Projects: Millinery class finals!

[labricoleuse]

My class has done some wonderful stuff for their final projects!





M. Spencer Henderson did these lime-green dreadlocks rigged for a quick-change.


These two hats are by Jacki Blakeney.
The brim of the hat on the right was blocked on a yoga ball.
The hat on the left was made from a felt cartwheel.


back view


Grier Coleman made this modern take on the bonnet, based on this couture image:




Amanda Phillips models her felt cloche.


Emily Mason created this silk drawn spoon bonnet.


Daniel Weger had to sculpt his own crown tolliker in order to block this
Panama-inspired straw hat from an unsized cartwheel.

What does that mean?



Here you can see the Poly Block we owned. The general idea is, soak your straw body and pull it over the block; when it dries, it'll have assumed the form of the block. Poly Blocks like this one can be pinned into for shaping, but another way of getting the depression in a crown like this one is to use a molded piece which, according to a fin de siecle resource by haberdasher Henry Ermatinger, is called a "tolliker." Daniel sculpted the one above from Sculpy polymer clay, embetting a handle for ease of manipulation, and ventilating it with airholes (indicated by red arrows) to speed the blocking process.

I hope you enjoyed this overview of my class' final projects.

I've got the final installment of the 1830s wig/bonnet project coming up soon, and then i'm off to the Utah Shakespearean Festival, where i'll be giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the craftwork in their 2007 summer season!

Comments

[radcliffe.livejournal.com]

Oh these posts are amazing! They make me yearn for the challenges of theatre again :-)

See you soon!

[unluckymonkey.livejournal.com]

there is some amazing work there! Where does one get a straw or felt cartwheel? I'm afraid this is new vocab for me but with totally sexy results!

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Amazing work! Bravo!

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

Not sure where you are at, but if you are located in a large enough city to have a garment district with a millinery supply shop, they carry them. (Manny's Millinery in NYC or California Millinery Supply in LA for example.) Most of them only do mail-order for wholesale though, so if you are not near a shop of that sort, you can mail-order them retail from online suppliers like Judith M or Hats by Leko:

http://www.judithm.com/
http://www.hatsupply.com/

Both of those suppliers call them "hatbodies," which is another word for them.

[unluckymonkey.livejournal.com]

thanks hun! No we've DEFINITELY got no garment district here. ;) Does one wet the item, stretch it over said form and the setting/starching/etc substance is already embedded in it? Or do I have to then apply something to make it stand firm against the elments?

[wendyhouse.livejournal.com]

gorgeous, as always.
Does the hat go between the block and the tolliker? so that the tolliker is sort of a shaped weight? It looks v. interesting.

have you any experience with the products from http://www.hatshapers.com/ ? I ran across them a while ago and was intrigued by the variety of shapes....

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

I have seen their products before and they look really interesting! I've never used them since they seem to be geared toward making your own felt rather than blocking existing felt hatbodies/hoods. They are on my list of "things to check out between now and the next time i teach the millinery class again (2 years down the line)" so at some point i'll invest in one and check it out. If you try them before me, please let me know how it goes!

>> blocked on a yoga ball

[hoozatdere.livejournal.com]

Hee! How fun.

The hell with Borsalino. I'll just make my own damn fedora.

Thanks for sharing this lovely work.

[labricoleuse.livejournal.com]

Wow, i JUST now saw that i never answered this question! (I was going back through old class posts, since i'm reteaching this class this semester.) Sorry i'm like, a YEAR late!

The cartwheel is steamed, then stretched over the block and secured with a pinned-tight rope or cord. When the water from the steam evaporates, the straw cartwheel takes on the shape of the block. You then spray or brush on your sizing. Some sizings are toxic, but the easiest thing to use is plain old gelatin, thinned out runny. It takes around 3 coats to get it stiff, but it does the job. If you wear the hat a lot while sweating, it'll need resizing at some point, but that's not a big deal.

Again, sorry for the SUPER late response! Dunno how i missed it 1st time around. :(

[unluckymonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh you're such a dear. :) Thanks for the thoughtful response hun! NO worries. You're a busy gal!